Nintendo files a lawsuit against the developers of the Switch Yuzu emulator

Nintendo sued Tropic Haze LLC in federal court in Rhode Island Ars Technica. Stephen Totilo was the first to do this a report About the news. Yuzu, for those who don't already know, is a popular emulator for the Nintendo Switch gaming console.

In the lawsuit, Nintendo's lawyers allege that YuuZoo (and other emulators) “turns computers into tools for widespread copyright infringement of Nintendo and others.” The company points out, among other things, that more than a million people downloaded The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before the game officially went on sale, and wants the court to order the developers to stop developing, marketing and distributing Yuzu. Nintendo is also seeking compensation of at least 1.5 million Swedish krona.

Ars Technica spoke to several experts, and opinions vary on Nintendo's chances. Attorney John Loiterman says he believes the case will boil down to whether Yuzu can be found guilty of violating the DMCA's prohibition against circumventing copy protection. The emulator does not have the encryption keys required for this, but Nintendo's lawyers noted a getting started guide published by the developers, which explains step-by-step how users can add these keys to the emulator in order to run copies. From protected games.

The problem Yuzu developers face, says John Loiterman, is that they are clearly aware that most people use the emulator for hacking. But Nintendo still faces an uphill battle as there are many precedents showing that emulation technology itself is not illegal in the United States.

Nintendo may also face issues with legitimate uses of Yuzu, such as running local games and apps. This also applies to emulation on PC to be able to use other controllers than are available on Switch, where there is a DMCA exception for accessibility.